ZR8ED

I've had face to face conversations with owners of the more recent 911's that they are similar to driving a Buick for intown driving, and don't feel sports car like until highway speeds. (when I say Buick, I don't mean slow, but comfortable and easy to drive and lacking a connection to the road) Built for aging Babyboomers that want to finally own the dream car of their youth.

mangosmoothie16

If I ever buy a 911, it WILL be air cooled.

V2Rocket

Accel/braking/turning are all pretty even between the Carrera/Corvette. However, a C6 is $30k cheaper than a C2. You could order up a long-in-the-tooth Z06, run circles around almost any 911 (and hang on with a 997TT) and still save $10k over the C2.

With that type of competition at that price point Porsche CAN NOT offer something better.

944Ross

Chevy is stuck the same way Porsche is; if GM put anything but an OHV V8 in the Vette, they'd lose a big part of their sales. Fortunately for Chevy, they are stuck with a more rational, flexible layout.

I'm not seeing how Porsche (if it stayed separate from VW), Lambo, Ferrari, et al, can continue to sell cars in the US when the CAFE requirements mandate 40+ mpg? Porsche may have to become a VW so they can average out the 911's with Golfs.

V2Rocket

the DFI stuff puts most of the cars at ~30 as is, add lightness and more technology (7-speed manual gearbox...) and they can do it.

944Ross

From a quick look at the fueleconomy.gov site, the plain-jane 2012 Carrera has a combined rating of 22, highway is 27 with the automatic (the stick does worse?!). Most of the big-boys are at 19 combined. AFAIK it's the combined number plus about 20% that is used for CAFE. The CAFE rules require 35.5 AVERAGE fleet economy by 2016; what does Porsche have to average-out those high-teen numbers? How about Lambo, do they get to use VW's in their average?

No matter what, I don't see Porsche making an entry-level car that gets 50 mpg -- that's VW's job.

Triple_T

They could always build something like the BMW i8...
http://www.bmw-i-usa.com/en_us/bmw-i8/

MAGK944

No comparison, Porsche does almost everything better than GM ever could dream of. GM quality just sucks. Having owned a corvette for less than a year and 3k miles I was glad to be rid of it and into my new 996.

Interior was coming apart, roof flew off (twice), needed new valves as they didn't seal properly, paint was crazing in places and the GM dealer who certified the car would not honor the warranty fully.

Piece of absolute **** and shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as Porsche.

BTW, had my 996 from new in 1999. Apart from tires, brake pads, oil, plugs and filters it has only needed an ignition switch and a headlight bulb after 65k miles. Interior and paint look like new.

V2Rocket

Blame that on the bean counters that keep the company (mostly) afloat.

Another RLer who was a FoMoCo engineer in the last few years once said here, "Most of the best engineers work for the big three automakers. Ford could build a Ferrari next week. Ferrari could never build a Ford."

MAGK944

I'm sure they have great engineers but you buy the car not the engineers and the car is of very poor quality. My dealer certified C5 was 1 year old when I bought it and in 3k miles I had spent more than I have spent on my 996 in 12 years.

I bought the top model GM had to offer and replaced it with the cheapest 911 (Carrera) Porsche had to offer. If the C6 is $30k cheaper than the C2 now then there is a reason why.

Not hating GM here just wish they would start to match Euro quality in their top Marques, or even come close.

TexasRider

Mag I am glad you like the 911, and I am not a Corvette guy anyway, but the reasons that the 911 is more are several.

First off is the Euro exchange rate. Second is the higher cost by Porsche on fewer units. And yes Porsche does use some good materials, but GM and Ford could scald Porsche if and when they wanted. But they are different players for different reasons. Ford and GMs engineering is tops, but they as a company are working on price points.

But I hear you.

MAGK944

I see their great engineers haven't managed to keep the roof from flying off in the 13 years since it happened to me, twice. Z06 Roofs Keep Blowing Off

V2Rocket

Related note: the 2-valve modular engines were supposed to be like a 2-year transition period until everything could go 4-valve - there was supposed to be a 32v Mustang/F150/everything from the start in the mid-90's. Economics and other factors changed all that...however, the 5.4L 32v was a beast no matter how you look at FoMoCo.



...At least they're not Chryslers.

hacker-pschorr

Oh great, when I buy a 96 GrandSport we will have something new to argue about.

Sentinelist

Lesson learned.